Enda gives a presentation and chairs the annual SEPA Conference

Enda gave a presentation entitled “Setting the Scene: Local Air Quality Management in the UK” and also chaired the recent Urban Air Quality Annual Conference organised by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The Conference was directed at local authority land use planners, transport planners and sustainability staff can help to improve air quality, minimise the risk to human health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The event, hosted by the Scottish Government in Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, on the 8^th September 2010, was well attended with over 90 delegates from environmental health, transport planning, land-use planning, environmental consultancies and academics.

Recent publication with the Department of Marine Sciences, University of Lagos, Nigeria

Dotun recently co-authored a journal paper on the pollution status of water bodies that feeds the Lagos Lagoon. The paper was published in collaboration with colleagues from the Department of Marine Sciences, University of Lagos, Nigeria.

Edokpayi, C. A., Olowoporoku, A. O. and Uwadiae, R. E. (2010). The hydrochemistry and macrobenthic fauna characteristics of an urban draining creek. International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation 2(8), 196-203. Available online on here

More recent publications...

The following short articles have been published in the August 2010 issue of the Environmental Scientist which is devoted to Imagining Britain in 2050.

Dotun Olowoporoku and Jim Longhurst (2010)
Cities and the vision of a green, pleasant and low carbon UK.
Environmental Scientist 19 (2) 8-11

Rose Bailey and Jim Longhurst (2010)
Case Study: 2050 Bristol. A world leader in green business and sustainable living.
Environmental Scientist 19 (2) 29-34

The Environmental Scientist is the Journal of the Institution of Environmental Sciences, ISSN 09668411.
For information on the IES visit http://www.ies-uk.org.uk/

AQMRC Publications Update

Recent publications from AQMRC:

Dorfman, P., Gibbs, D.C., Leksmono, N.S., Longhurst, J. W. S., Weitkamp, E.L.C. (2010) Exploring the context of consultation. The case of Local air Quality Management. Local Environment 15:1 15 – 26.

Olowoporoku, A. O., Hayes, E. T., Leksmono, N. S., Longhurst, J. W. S. & Parkhurst, G. (2010) A longitudinal study of the links between Local Air Quality Management and Local Transport Planning policy processes in England. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 53 (3), 385 – 403.

AQMRC/EPUK-SW Annual conference - 12th October 2010 - BOOK NOW!!

The Air Quality Management Resource Centre, UWE and Environmental Protection SW are proud to announce their collaboration once more with the launch of the 2010 Annual Conference. The theme of this year's event is "Healing the Rift: Health Effects of Air Quality and Noise" and includes distinguished speakers such as Robert Vaughan, Bob Maynard, Frank Kelly and Dick Derwent. You can also meet EPUK's new Chief Executive Officer, James Grugeon.

UWE will be hosting the event at their purpose-built Exhibition and Conference Centre in Bristol. The venue is easily accessible by road, rail, bus or cycle - in fact we will be offering free mugs for those travelling by sustainable means, so keep your tickets! - and there is also a nearby Holiday Inn for those planning on travelling a little further.

The conference is to be held on Tuesday 12th October - just 5 weeks away! - so make sure you book your place for what promises to be a fascinating insight into cross-policy interaction with plenty of relevance for Action Planning for both Air Quality and Noise.

Click here to download a flier and booking form.

Air Pollution 2011 Call for Papers

Air Pollution 2011, 19th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution, 19 - 21 September 2011 Malta

The call for papers has now been published at http://www.wessex.ac.uk/11-conferences/airpollution-2011.html

Further details from Claire Shiell
Conference Secretariat,

Wessex Institute of Technology,

Ashurst Lodge,

Ashurst,

Southampton, SO40 7AA

Tel: 44 (0) 238 0293223

Fax: 44 (0) 238 0292853

cshiell@wessex.ac.uk

Air Pollution 2010 - Post conference report now available

Air Pollution 2010 18th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution, 21 - 23 June 2010, Kos, Greece

Post Conference Report Now Available at http://www.wessex.ac.uk/10-conferences/air-pollution-2010.html

The 18th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution (Air Pollution 2010) has recently taken place on the island of Kos, Greece, organised by Professor Jim Longhurst from the University of the West of England and Professor Carlos A Brebbia from Wessex Institute of Technology (WIT).
This successful international meeting built upon the prestigious outcomes of the 17 preceding conferences beginning in Monterrey, Mexico in 1993 and most recently in Tallinn, Estonia, in 2009. These meetings have always attracted outstanding contributions from leading researchers from around the world. The presented papers have been permanently stored in the WIT eLibrary as Transactions of the Wessex Institute (see http://library.witpress.com/). These papers provide an important online record of the development of science and policy pertaining to air pollution and they remain permanently available for researchers to access. Read the full conference report at http://www.wessex.ac.uk/10-conferences/air-pollution-2010.html

Rose to present at 15th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress

Rose has been selected to present at the 15th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress held in Vancouver, Canada, from 12th-16th September. The title of Rose's abstract is 'City-Scale Carbon Management: an innovative methodology for imagining a low carbon future', which will be presented in the Technical Session on 'Urban Sustainability Issues'.

More information about the conference can be found here: http://www.iuappa2010.com

The 2010 IUAPPA Congress theme of "Achieving Environmental Sustainability in a Resource Hungry World" recognizes the need for holistic management approaches to effectively mitigate potential water, food, energy, and environmental challenges. This Congress will bring together specialists from academia, industry, consulting, environmental advocacy groups, and government to present innovative ways to improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and minimize environmental impacts. The program will examine international, national and local-scale issues facing both emerging and developed economies.

More information about Rose and her research can be found on her web page.

Jo to present at 15th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress

Jo has been selected to present at the 15th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress held in Vancouver, Canada, from 12th-16th September. The title of Jo's abstract is 'Reframing the United Kingdom Air Quality Management Challenge: From Diagnosis to Solutions', which will be presented in the 'Approaches to Environmental Management' technical session.

More information about the conference can be found here: http://www.iuappa2010.com

The 2010 IUAPPA Congress theme of "Achieving Environmental Sustainability in a Resource Hungry World" recognizes the need for holistic management approaches to effectively mitigate potential water, food, energy, and environmental challenges. This Congress will bring together specialists from academia, industry, consulting, environmental advocacy groups, and government to present innovative ways to improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and minimize environmental impacts. The program will examine international, national and local-scale issues facing both emerging and developed economies.

More information about Jo and her research can be found on her web page.

Rose has just returned from the Second International Conference on Climate Change in Brisbane, Australia, where she presented a paper on her research methodology entitled "Envisioning the Future: a Methodology for City Scale Carbon Management" which discussed the use of Delphi techniques to imagine low carbon futures for Bristol. The conference attracted delegates from all over the world with discussions on all aspects of climate research.

More information about the conference can be found here: http://www.climate-conference.com

The paper will shortly be published in the conference journal, 'The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses', found here: http://on-climate.com/journal/

More information about Rose's research can be found on her web page: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/rose.html

Tim to present at Climate Change conference in November

The Centre for Psycho-Social Studies, UWE in association with UWE Institute for Sustainability, Health and the Environment presents a one-day conference: Seeing Futures: Integrating Scientific Views on Changing Climates on November 13th 2010. Speakers include:

*Dr Stephan Harrison, Associate Professor of Quaternary Science, University of Exeter
Climate Science – Certainty, Uncertainty and Risk

*Dr Tim Chatterton, Senior Research Fellow in Air Quality at UWE, currently on Social Science Policy Fellowship with the Department of Energy and Climate Change
Climate Change – Science, Media, Policy and The Public

*Dr Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics, Australia National University and author of Growth Fetish, The Freedom Paradox and Requiem for a Species
By audio-visual link from Canberra - Climate Knowledge Under Siege – the Many Forms of Denial

*Sandra White Ecopsychologist, environmental writer, bereavement counsellor, founder member of Transition Hertford
Beyond Sacrifice – Reaching Towards the Ecological Self

The Conference Chair is Sara Parkin, Founder Director of Forum for the Future.

Further details and online registration are available here. Hurry - discount rate until 30th August!

Air Quality and Carbon Management CPD training

AQMRC are running a training session this Friday (30th July) as part of their Air Quality and Carbon Management CPD training. This Friday's session will focus on Monitoring and Modelling for Local Air Quality Management and will be attended by environmental scientists from local authorities and environmental consultancies. The course is accredited by the Institute for Air Quality Management (IAQM) and the Institution for Environmental Science (IES) and is worth up to 17 CPD hours, including additional online access after the event. If you are interested in attending this or any of the courses in the Air Quality and Carbon Management series, please email aqmrc@uwe.ac.uk or register your interest online.

Dr Nurul Leksmono Memorial Prize

The AQMRC are pleased to announce the inauguration of an award to commemorate Dr Nurul Leksmono who sadly passed away earlier this year. Nurul was a much loved and highly respected Research Fellow and PhD student in Air Quality Management. The prize, in her name, is to be awarded to the UWE Postgraduate International student whose PhD or MSc thesis on the subject of air quality, carbon management or environmental management can be considered the best in the graduating year. The prize will be presented at the graduation ceremony in November.

Air Quality Webinar

This is a priority invitation to the following webinar; ‘The Air Quality Paradox? Improving Health, tackling climate change and breathing easier’, hosted on the 2degrees Low Carbon Local Authorities working group on Friday, 16th July at 2pm.
Presenters:
• Daniel Instone, Deputy Director, Atmosphere and Local Environment Programme, DEFRA
• Dr Tim Chatterton, Air Quality Management Resource Centre, University of the West of England
• Simon Cousins, Environment Programme Officer, GLA
The presenters will:
• Examine how the transition to a low carbon economy can be managed to ensure it doesn't have an unintended negative impact on air quality, health and the environment
• Identify and explore synergies and conflicts in addressing carbon reduction and air quality
• Provide practical insights into London's efforts to tackle air quality
The webinar takes place online so requires no travel and will offer you the opportunity to put any questions you may have to the experts.
Register now to attend the webinar and join 2degrees Low Carbon Local Authorities Working Group.
Membership of 2degrees is FREE, but if you join before July 16th you will receive a FREE 2 month upgrade to our enhanced business level service.
Find out more about 2degrees and the Low Carbon Local Authorities Working Group.
For more information on 2degrees or further details of this webinar, please contact Laura at 2degrees here or on 01865 339431.

New AQM Publications

Just published:

Leksmono, N.S., Dorfman, P., Burnet, F., Gibbs, D.C., Longhurst, J. W. S., Weitkamp, E. (2010) Enhancing consultation practices on Air Quality Management in local authorities. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 53(5) pp 559 – 571

Brebbia, C.A &. Longhurst, J.W.S. (Editors, 2010) Air Pollution XVIII. WIT Press. Southampton and Boston. pp 430

J.W.S. Longhurst, J. Barnes, T.J. Chatterton, E.T. Hayes, J.G. Irwin & A. O. Olowoporoku (2010). Recalibrating the United Kingdom’s Local Air Quality Management regime to deliver desired goals. In Brebbia, C.A. & Longhurst, J.W.S. (Editors) Air Pollution XVIII WIT Press. Southampton and Boston. pp73-82.

A full list of AQMRC publications is available on the AQMRC website.

Rose to attend International Conference on Climate Change

Rose will be attending the Second International Conference on Climate Change at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, from 8-10th July. Rose will be presenting a paper entitled 'Envisioning the Future: a Methodology for City Scale Carbon Management'. In this, she discusses her research methodology, which proposes using Delphi techniques to identify potential future low carbon scenarios for the Bristol city region.
More information about the conference can be found here: http://on-climate.com/conference-2010/
More information about Rose's research can be found here: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/rose.html

Emission Factor Toolkit (Version 4.2)

A revised version of the emission factor toolkit (EFT) has been issued and is available for download on Defra’s LAQM tools website (http://laqm1.defra.gov.uk/review/tools/emissions.php). The revised version (Version 4.2) allows the use of detailed local vehicle fleet composition data, i.e. it gives the ability to split the traffic into more than just HDV and LDV. It also corrects some minor errors in the way the previous version interpreted some of the national fleet data. Because of these errors, emissions calculated using version 4.2 may be slightly different from those calculated using version 4.1. Any discrepancies will very small, particularly in relation to other modelling uncertainties. Local Authorities are not required to redo any work already carried out using version 4.1 but are advised to use version 4.2 for future work. Version 4.2 will soon be accompanied by a user guide which will explain how to use the new functions.

New LAQM website

Defra and the Devolved Administrations have launched their new and improved Local Air Quality Management website today!

This replaces the following websites: http://www.airquality.co.uk/laqm/laqm.php , http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/review/ and http://www.laqmsupport.org.uk/.

The following links will help re-direct you:

LAQM homepage

Guidance – Policy and technical guidance, practice guidance and lots of other useful guidance for LAQM.

Helpdesks – contacts details for email or phone support for LAQM

FAQs – useful information grouped by subject area

Review and Assessment – example reports, checklists and useful information.

Action Planning – example reports, checklists, useful information on measures and best practice

Tools – including background maps, NOx/NO2 calculator, Biomass calculator, Emissions Factor Toolkit, VCM, DMRB, national Bias Adjustment Factor spreadsheet and more.

AQMAs – maps of AQMAs and lists of which councils have declared

Report Submission Website – for Updating and Screening Assessments and Progress Reports

Jim goes to Air Pollution 2010 in Kos

Professor Jim Longhurst is attending the 18th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution in Kos, Greece this week as conference co-chair. Further details of the conference are available on the conference website http://www.wessex.ac.uk/10-conferences/air-pollution-2010.html. Check the AQMRC latest news for an update on Jim's activities at the conference on his return.

Mo and Jo Doubleact at Heating up GIS Seminar

Mofoluso Fagbeja and Jo Barnes gave presentations on applications of GIS in air quality management at yesterday's' 'Heating up GIS seminar', part of the heat@uwe programme. The seminar aimed to raise awareness of capabilities, applications and ideas about the use of geographical information systems (GIS) at UWE and to highlight its potential value to disciplines and staff unfamiliar with the subject. A number of varied disciplines were represented at the seminar, which was widely considered to be a very successful initiative potentially leading to some interesting and valuable research collaborations. For further information on 'Heating up GIS' or heat@uwe contact louise5king@uwe.ac.uk. For further information on GIS and air quality management please contact aqmrc@uwe.ac.uk.

Updated pollution data from industrial facilities now available in the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR)

E-PRTR is a comprehensive online register which contains information on emissions of pollutants to air, water and land by industrial facilities throughout Europe (EU-27 and EFTA countries). It includes annual data for 91 substances and covers more than 24 000 facilities in 65 economic activities. E-PRTR also provides additional information, such as the amount and types of waste transferred from facilities to waste handlers both inside and outside each country. The new dataset now contains information for 2008 and updated data for 2007. Voluntarily reported data from Switzerland are also included in the register for the first time.
More: E-PRTR website

Research in Physical Sciences/AQMRC Seminar Presentation

Mofoluso had his Research in Physical Sciences Assessment and AQMRC Seminar presentation on 19 May, 2010. He presented on the progress of his research. The presentation was titled, "Applying remote sensing, GIS and dispersion modelling techniques to air quality and carbon emission management in the Niger Delta". The audience at the presentation cut across disciplines. Details of the presentation can be found on Mofoluso's web page at http://uwe.ac.uk/aqm/mofolusosresearch.html

Europe to exceed air pollutant emission limits – NOx in particular

In 2010, around half of the European Union's Member States expect to miss one or more of the legal limits set by the National Emission Ceilings Directive. According to recent data compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA), 11 countries expect to exceed their ceilings by significant amounts — some missing NOx targets by more than 40 %.
Read more ...

Nurul celebration video

To celebrate the life and times we shared with Nurul Leksmono, a memorial event was held on Wednesday, 28 April, 2010 at the Octagon Centre in UWE Frenchay Campus. A book of remembrance will be available for the next couple of weeks for those who were unable to attend and wish to send a message to her family. As part of the ceremony we compiled a presentation of photos of Nurul set to music, which will help us remember her as the happy, smiley person she was. Click on the image below to view:

Nurul celebration video from dotun olowoporoku on Vimeo.

Sad news - Dr Nurul Leksmono

We are very sad to announce the sudden and tragic death of Dr Nurul Leksmono who drowned in a diving accident in Indonesia on Saturday 10th April. Nurul studied and worked in the Air Quality Management Resource Centre at UWE from 2001-2009 before returning to work in her home city of Jakarta last year. Nurul was the most likeable, warm-hearted and generous of people. Her kind, patient, happy nature, which touched so many, will be missed by all who knew her. Our thoughts and sympathy are with her family and friends.

To celebrate her life and times with us, we will be hosting a memorial event from 12-1 pm on Wednesday, 28 April, 2010 at the Octagon Centre in UWE Frenchay Campus. A book of remembrance will be available at the event for those who wish to send a message to her family.

LAQM Review based on AQMRC questionnaire

An internal review of LAQM has recently been published for Defra by in-house consultants utilising the results of a local authority questionnaire undertaken by AQMRC. The Review of Local Air Quality Management report can be viewed online at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/air/airquality/local/documents/laqm-report.pdf, along with the accompanying questionnaire report at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/air/airquality/local/documents/laqm-questionnaire-review.pdf.

AQMRC contribute to Environmental Audit Committee report on air quality

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee on Air Quality report was released last Monday. Published by the Stationery Office, reference HC229-I and available on line at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmenvaud.htm, the report draws heavily on evidence provided by AQMRC. (Press release at http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/environmental_audit_committee.cfm).

New paper in press

Ross-Jones, M.J & Longhurst, J.W.S. (In Press) Managing Air Quality at the Local level. A Case Study. The International Journal of Sustainable Development & Planning.

Congratulations to Dr Dotun Olowoporoku

Dotun has successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled ‘Delivering improved air quality through the local transport plan process in English local government’ His thesis was examined by Professor John Murlis, UCL, and Dr Kiron Chatterjee, UWE, and the examiners have recommended the award of PhD subject to minor amendments.

Very many congratulations to Dotun on an excellent defence of his thesis. Congratulations also to the supervisors, Dr Enda Hayes and Professor Graham Parkhurst, and the director of studies, Jim Longhurst, on a successful supervision to completion.

Rose to lecture at University of Iceland, Reykjavik

Rose will be involved in running a weekend of lectures and workshops on sustainable futures, at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik. Rose will be lecturing Masters students on carbon management policy and practice, and carbon accounting. The lecture series has been organised by Professor Vala Ragnarsdottir, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Iceland, and one of Rose's supervisors, and will run from 5th-7th March.

Update to diffusion tube database February 2010

Please note that the Nitrogen Dioxide Diffusion Tube Bias Adjustment Factor Spreadsheet has just been updated from the 09/09 version. The new spreadsheet (v. 02/10) may be downloaded from the Review and Assessment website (http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/review/mR&Asupport09.html) and includes the changes detailed in the attached note. The next scheduled update to the bias adjustment spreadsheet is late March 2010. The Diffusion Tube Precision Summary table has also been updated and may be downloaded from the same location as the bias adjustment spreadsheet.

If you haven't already done so, and you now have collocation data available, please fill in the diffusion tube collocation data questionnaire (http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/review/R&Asupport/no2biasquestionnaire2009.xls) and submit it to Kiri Brown [kiribrown@aqconsultants.co.uk].

Recent Conference Presentations from AQMRC Staff and Students

AQMRC staff and students are actively communicating the outcomes of their research. Below are some recent national and international presentations from AQMRC.

Fagbeja, M., Hill. J, Chatterton, T., Longhurst, J.W.S., Akinyede, J.A., and Adegoke, J.O. (2009) The need for improved sensing technology for estimating emissions and concentrations of pollution at ground-level in the lower latitudes, Space for Africa: Joint Participation, Knowledge Development and Sharing. International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) 3rd African Regional Conference Abuja, Nigeria 24th - 26th November, 2009.

Olowoporoku, D., Hayes, E., Parkhurst, G. & Longhurst J.(2009) Managing local traffic-related air pollution in England, Polis Conference 2009, Brussels 10th and 11th of December, 2009.

Longhurst, J.W.S., Everard, M., Bailey, R., Baldwin. S and Orme, J. (2010) 2020 Vision. A green and pleasant land? Invited Plenary Presentation. GWR Research Symposium 2010 Hewlett Packard, Bristol, January 20th 2010.

Longhurst, J.W.S., Bailey, R., & Baldwin. S. (2010) Low Carbon Initiatives in British Cities. Invited presentation to the Academy of Sciences of South Africa Low Carbon Cities Consensus Panel. Pretoria, South Africa, February 2nd 2010.

Longhurst, J.W.S., Bailey, R. (2010) Evaluation Methods for CO2, CATCH Project Interest Group meeting organised by Polis. Brussels, 17th-18th February 2010.

New and In Press Publications from AQMRC

AQMRC continues to publish its work in the peer-reviewed literature.

The following papers were published in late 2009, early 2010 or are in press for publication in the next few months.

Deacon L., Pankhurst, L., Liu, J., Drew, G. H., Hayes, E.T., Jackson, S., Longhurst, J., Longhurst, P., Pollard, S. & Tyrrel, S. (2009) Endotoxin emissions from commercial composting activities. Environmental Health 8:S9 Available at: http://www.ehjournal.net/qc/content/8/S1/S9.

Deacon, L.J., Pankhurst, L.J., Drew, G.H., Hayes, E.T., Jackson, S., Longhurst, P.J., Longhurst, J.W.S., Liu, J., Pollard, S.J.T. & Tyrrel, S.F. (2009) Particle size distribution of airborne Aspergillus fumigatus spores from compost using membrane filtration. Atmospheric Environment 43 935) 5698-5701.

Dorfman, P., Gibbs, D.C., Leksmono, N.S., Longhurst, J. W. S., Weitkamp, E.L.C. (2010) Exploring the context of consultation. The case of Local Air Quality Management. Local Environment 15:1 15 – 26.

Leksmono, N.S., Dorfman, P., Burnet, F., Gibbs, D.C., Longhurst, J. W. S., Weitkamp, E. (In press) Enhancing consultation practices on Air Quality Management in local authorities. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management.

Olowoporoku, A. O., Hayes, E. T., Leksmono, N. S., Longhurst, J. W. S. & Parkhurst, G. (In press) A longitudinal study of the links between Local Air Quality Management and Local Transport Planning policy processes in England. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management.

Rose presents at 'CATCH' project Climate Change and Travel Behaviour meeting

Rose was invited to give a presentation at the CATCH (Carbon Aware Travel CHoice) Interest Group meeting on 'Climate Change and Travel Behaviour', in Brussels on 17th-18th February.

Rose's presentation was titled 'Evaluation methods for CO2', covering methodologies for estimating carbon dioxide emissions from transport at the city scale. The presentation can be downloaded here.

CATCH is a project with the ultimate aim to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of the urban transport sector by encouraging carbon-friendly travel choices. The CATCH project will develop an online knowledge platform primarily aimed at decision-makers, but also for citizens, businesses, planners, and other mobility stakeholders in cities. More information can be found on the CATCH project website at http://www.carbonaware.eu/

The meeting was hosted by Polis, a network of European Cities and regions which promotes, supports and advocates innovation in local transport. More information can be found on their website http://www.polis-online.org/

Low Carbon Cities

Professor Jim Longhurst is contributing to South Africa's moves towards a low carbon future. He has been invited by the Academy of Science of South Africa to serve on its high-profile Consensus Panel for Low Carbon Cities. The Panel held its first meeting in Pretoria, South Africa in February. The panel consists of international experts, including Professor Longhurst, together with experts from South Africa. During the next 18 months the panel will address mitigation and adaptation measures appropriate to South Africa, and to make recommendations based on evidence to support the national government's commitment to transition to a low-carbon economy. Professor Robin Crewe, President of the Academy of Science of South Africa said "Professor Longhurst has been invited to serve on this panel because of his expertise in the field." At the first meeting of the panel Jim presented a paper entitled 'Low Carbon Initiatives in British Cities'.

Tim begins placement at Department for Energy and Climate Change

Tim Chatterton has just been awarded a prestigious placement fellowship working with the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The Fellowship is in partnership with the Research Councils Energy Programme (ESRC and EPSRC) and DECC.

The aim of the Fellowship is to provide social science input regarding the energy behaviour of individuals and communities into the policy development process in DECC in order to help enable ‘the public’ to more readily take up ‘low-carbon’ patterns of behaviour. Climate benefits of adopting low-carbon behaviour are not clearly experienced by individuals, families and other groups in the UK, as the majority of climate impacts will occur in other parts of the world, some time in the future. However, evidence suggests that many elements of low-carbon lifestyles can be seen to have direct ancillary benefits to those adopting them (such as economic or health benefits). The successful development of policies to encourage climate orientated behaviour change is likely to have to rely on being able to ‘sell’ these policies to the public on the basis of these direct ancillary benefits, in addition or alternatively to making a moral case for altruistic behaviour change.

The Air Quality Management Resource Centre has worked closely with Defra and the Devolved Administrations, and with Local Authorities in order to shape air quality policy in the UK over the last decade. This, along with Tim’s work as Chair of the UK Public Health Association’s Special Interest Group on Health and Sustainable Environments, will help him to bring a wide range of policy experience into DECC to address the issue of behaviour change.

If you are involved in any research in this area, Tim would be very interested to hear from you. Please send him a short description of your work at t.chatterton@uwe.ac.uk

Simon wins first prize for ‘best student poster’ at the second GWR Research Symposium

Jim and Simon attended the second Great Western Research Symposium 2020 Vision. I can see clearly now? held at Hewlett Packard in Bristol on 20th January. The symposium explored the contribution of the GWR research portfolio to life in 2020. Jim was invited present a plenary paper, entitled “2020 Vision. A green and pleasant land?”

The symposium was well attended by students funded by GWR, many of whom contributed a poster on their research. Congratulations to Simon, whose poster entitled “Opportunities, barriers and challenges for co-managed air pollution and carbon emissions in South West England” was judged the best in the symposium. Simon’s poster will be available soon on the GWR website. If you can’t wait until then, you can always find the poster and other outputs from his research on his research web page at http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/simon.html. Go check it out!

NEW Emission Factor Toolkit, NOx to NO2 calculator, background maps and future-year projection factors

A number of changes have recently been made to the Local Air Quality Management tools available on the air quality archive website (www.airquality.co.uk). The new tools should be used for new work. If work has already been started using the old set of tools, it is not necessary to go back and repeat the work unless the local authority believes that this would be appropriate. So long as models have been appropriately verified against local measurements, the updates to the tools should not invalidate work already carried out, even though precise results would be different. The changes are as follows:

1) The Emission Factor Toolkit (EFT) has been updated to use the DfTs latest vehicle emission factors (published in 2009). This allows modellers to calculate vehicular emissions in line with the latest predictions. It is possible for users to incorporate the emissions that they calculate using the EFT into most dispersion models (but not screening tools such as DMRB).
2) The NOx to NO2 calculator has been updated. These changes take account of more recent predictions of oxidant levels across the UK and also use revised default values for primary NO2 (fNO2) (as shown within the spreadsheet).
3) The national maps of background air pollutant concentrations have been updated to take account of more recent emissions predictions and updated methods. A short report describing the principal changes between the two sets of maps is included on the website along with the maps.
4) The sector-removal tool for calculating sector-adjusted background nitrogen dioxide concentrations has been updated following changes to the background mapping methodology.
5) The future-year projection factors for roadside monitoring data contained in Box 2.1 of LAQM.TG(09) have been updated.

All of these tools can only be applied to data from the year 2008 onward. An FAQ on modelling conditions prior to 2008 will follow soon.
If local authorities require any help or clarification they should contact the Review and Assessment Helpdesk on 0117 32 83668 or aqm-review@uwe.ac.uk.

Rose speaks to year 12 geographers at North Bristol Post-16 Centre

Rose was invited to speak to year 12 Geographers at North Bristol Post-16 Centre at Redland Green School on Tuesday. She talked to students about carbon management and climate change, both internationally, and emissions accounting and mitigation options locally in Bristol. The students discussed issues ranging from international climate politics, renewable energy feasibility, and spatial planning policies, to energy efficiency in the home and public transport in Bristol. The morning aimed to provide students with a climate change case study for forthcoming AS and A2 exams.

Air Quality and Carbon Management CPD available from UWE

With the recent multitude of changes to the LAQM process and the increasing predominance of climate change on the political agenda, now is the time for employers and staff to ensure that they are in command of all the facts.

The University of the West of England’s Air Quality Management Resource Centre (AQMRC) have developed a range of training and development opportunities to build skills and understanding in the fields of air quality and carbon management. Whether you are a recent graduate or needing to update your skills in an existing role, this training will give you the opportunity to focus your development in a way that is specific to your needs and requirements.

Supported by the Institute of Air Quality Management and the Institution of Environmental Science, these training opportunities are available from 2010 for CPD. A flexible package of CPD is available for delivery at your location or at UWE. For more information about the training opportunities and to discuss your specific needs, please contact Jo Barnes (aqmrc@uwe.ac.uk) and visit the training pages of the AQMRC website (http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/training.html).

Rose has abstract accepted for the Second International Conference on Climate Change

Rose has had an abstract accepted for presentation at the Second International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts and Responses, to be held at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia from 8-10 July 2010. More information can be found on the conference website: http://www.climate-conference.com

Roses's abstract is entitled "Envisioning the Future: a Methodology for City-Scale Carbon Management".

Using the example of Bristol in south west England, the paper will discuss a methodology for how cities could respond to the challenge of climate change and capitalise on their unique mitigation opportunities. By engaging local stakeholders through an innovative Delphi-like process, a number of low-carbon scenarios for the future city-region are imagined. Using backcasting techniques, together with conventional forecasting, a robust pathway from the present to a future desirable low-emission city can be described. This will bring benefits to planning and policy making, by providing a low emission-pathway beyond the short-term, and creates buy-in from key stakeholders through the Delphi-process, who have helped to define the city’s future.

Read more about Rose's research on her webpage.

Tim becomes Chair of IAPSC

At the end of the IAPSC meeting in Birmingham last Wednesday, it was formally announced that Tim will be the next chair of IAPSC committee, following Mark Daly's departure from the role.

(IAPSC = Investigation of Air Pollution Standing Conference http://www.iapsc.org.uk/ )

Dotun presents research in Brussels

Dotun will be giving a presentation on "Managing local traffic-related air pollution in England" at the on Polis Conference 2009 in Brussels (10th and 11th of December). He will be presenting key findings from his recently concluded PhD research on the integration of air quality management into the second round of local transport planning (LTP2) process.

Tim Keynote Speaker at IUAPPA Regional Workshop

Tim has been invited to give a keynote presentation on “Managing Transport Impacts in Asian Mega-Cities” at the IUAPPA North African Regional Workshop in Tunis (23^rd-25^th November).

Mofoluso to present a paper at IAA conference in Nigeria

Mofoluso is attending the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) 3rd African Regional Conference being held at the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja from 24 to 26 November, 2009. The theme of the Conference is "Space for Africa: Joint Participation, Knowledge Development and Sharing".

Mofoluso will be presenting a paper entitled, "The need for improved sensing technology for estimating emissions and concentrations of pollution at ground-level in the lower latitudes".

Check out Mofoluso's research page to see the presentation on his return.

We all wish Mofoluso a safe journey and all the best in his presentation.

Tim on Environment Panel at Music South West

Last Friday Tim represented the Institute for Sustainability, Health and Environment in a panel discussion at the Music South West conference in Bristol.

The discussion was chaired by Matt Booth of the Bristol Music Foundation.  Other members included Alison Tickell of Julie’s Bicycle, and Ben Chalis and Clare O’Neil of A Greener Festival

Tim appears on the BBC

On Monday 2nd November, the BBC screened its regional Inside Out programme containing a feature on air pollution. Focussing in particular on Bedford, the programme contained interviews with Tim from AQMRC, along with Ed Dearnley of EPUK and Barry Williams from Bedford Borough Council.

The programme is available on the BBC I-Player site here.

15th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress - Call for abstracts

Abstracts are now invited for the 15th International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Association's World Clean Air Congress
Date: September 12-16, 2010
Place: Vancouver, British Columbia
Conference Theme: Achieving Environmental Sustainability in a Resource Hungry World
Abstract Submission Deadline: March 12, 2010
Further details available here or visit their website www.iuappa2010.com.

AQMRC/EPUK-SW Annual Conference - Presentations now available online

The presentations from the AQMRC, UWE and Environmental Protection-UK SW Divison Annual Conference ' Air Quality Management: the 11th hour' are now available on the AQMRC website http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/training.html.

The conference provided a positive message for the future of air quality management through integration with other disciplines, such as transport (John Murlis), climate change (Guy Hitchcock), land use planning (Claire Holman) and noise (Steve Crawshaw and Tim Clarke), and Mark Broom presented Neath Port Talbot as a case study of collaborative agency working with regard to the industrial steelworks. There was also a policy update from Robert Vaughan reporting on Defra's approach to the NO2 time extension and a reminder from Ben Barratt to ensure that policy measures are accountable to the science. Ben Williams, the 2008 winner of the EPUK student conference presented his research measuring nuisance dust from a waste transfer station and Phil Mulligan's summary of the EP-UK Biomass and Air Quality event from the previous week highlighted one of the new and increasing considerations for air quality management.

In all, the feedback from the day was equally as positive and the presentations were extremely well-rated.

If you have any suggestions for future conference topics, do let us know at aqmrc@uwe.ac.uk.

Tim is Keynote Speaker on Health and Planning

On Monday, Tim attended the GO-East "Multi-Professional Symposium on Health and the Built Environment" in Cambridge. He was invited as one of the keynote speakers to make a presentation on "Urban Design and Health", alongside Neil Blackmore from the NHS Healthy Urban Development Unit and Dr Tim Crayford, Chief Medical Advisor for DfT.

Tim's presentation can be viewed here.

In the afternoon, Tim got back to his roots and participated in the Norfolk workshop with members of Norwich City Council, NHS Norfolk, and Tim O'Riordan (Emeritus Professor at UEA and Sheriff of the City of Norwich).

Port Talbot Study Presented at Openair Workshop

Tim attended the Openair/Aitrack workshop "Towards Smarter Air Quality Analysis" at the Institute of Physics on Thursday. At the workshop he presented a poster illustrating the work that AQMRC has carried out for the Welsh Assembly Government, using Openair and R to analyse pollution data from 11 monitoring stations in the Neath Port Talbot area.

A copy of the poster can be viewed here

AQMRC - EPUK SW Annual conference success

The Air Quality Management Resource Centre, UWE and Environmental Protection - South West Division joined forces once again yesterday to deliver an "excellent" Annual Conference entitled 'Air Quality Management - the 11th hour'. The conference was held, as in previous years, at the very welcoming Bristol Zoo which afforded delegates and speakers a extremely pleasant venue, access to the gardens and a splendid spread for lunch and tea. The talks, which were all excellently presented and thoroughly informative, explored the various ways in which air quality management can be achieved holistically through integration with other disciplines and by working with related parties, giving a highly positive feel to a, perhaps, ominously titled event. Further information on the individual talks together with the presentations themselves will be posted shortly on the AQMRC website.

Emissions of air pollutants down in EU-27

The European Community's air pollutant emission inventory report released by the European Environment Agency finds that in 2007, sulphur oxides (SOx) emissions were down by 72% from 1990 levels. The downward emission trend of three main pollutants which cause ground-level ozone continued in 2007: carbon monoxide (CO) fell by 57%, non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) were down by 47% and nitrogen oxides (NOx) have dropped 36%. EU-27 emissions of all four pollutants were lower in 2007 than in 2006.

Read more ... <http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/emissions-of-air-pollutants-down-in-eu-27?&utm_campaign=emissions-of-air-pollutants-down-in-eu-27&utm_medium=email&utm_source=EEASubscriptions>

Air quality vacancy at Bristol CC

Bristol City Council are now recruiting an Environmental Technical Support Officer for their environment team. The role will be mainly working on air quality, covering Bristol's monitoring sites and also working on other air quality projects, EMAS, water quality and GIS. Click here for further details.

Jimi chairs Defra review of monitoring for acidifying and eutrophying pollutants

Jimi Irwin has chaired a review of monitoring for acidifying and eutrophying pollutants for Defra. Such measurements have been an important part of the United Kingdom measurement programme since the first national precipitation chemistry network was established in 1986. They have played an important role in determining pollutant deposition over the country and in identifying areas where research was necessary to improve our understanding of atmospheric chemistry and deposition processes. More recently, they have provided a tool for the implementation of a critical loads and levels approach to environmental protection.

The Review Panel reviewed current monitoring with regard to species measured, locations, frequency of measurement, methodology and quality assurance. They also considered the status of the UK supersites at Harwell and Auchencorth Moss within the European Evaluation and Monitoring programme. In reaching their conclusions the Panel drew on material provided by the network operators, past reports and also the findings of a user survey. Relevant material is available on the NERC open research archive.

AQMRC - EPUK SW Annual Conference back on!

The 11th Annual Conference organised by Air Quality Management Resource Centre, UWE and Environmental Protection SW Division is back on after being postponed from its usual slot in March. The conference will now be held on Wednesday 30th September. The title of the event is 'Air Quality Management - The 11th Hour' focusing on the fact that the Air Quality Objective dates have now largely been reached and EU Limit Values are on the horizon.

The presentations selected will highlight the benefits of integrating air quality with other disciplines, e.g. transport, carbon management, health and land use planning. Defra's Robert Vaughan will set the scene with his keynote address and will be joined by speakers from Bristol City Council, King's College, London, University of London, Peter Brett Associates, Exeter University and Portsmouth University, including Ben Williams, winner of the 2008 Environmental Protection Student Day event. There will also be a conference exhibition for suppliers, consultants and academics to display their wares and research.

The venue remains the same, Bristol Zoo, and the conference fees will include delegate packs (including CPD certificate), buffet lunch and refreshments. For details and a link to the conference flier and registration form, please visit the AQMRC website http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/training.html or ring 0117 32 81626 for further information.

Jim and Simon go to Westminster

Jim and Simon were invited to the Great Western Research (GWR) event 'Innovation through Collaboration', Portcullis House, Westminster on 29th June. The event celebrated the achievements of the Great Western Research project to date and called for further funding to maintain momentum. Jim gave an enthusiastic presentation on his experiences as a research supervisor on Simon's PhD - made possible through the GWR initiative – and Simon presented an academic poster on his research. The event was well attended by GWR, Students, Fellows, Supervisors and Business Partners and joined by senior academics from across the South West and representatives of the SW-RDA, HEFCE, Research Councils, and the Technology Strategy Board. The event was sponsored by Phil Willis MP Chair of the Commons Select Committee responsible for science and technology. Go to Simon's webpage to see the poster and find out more about his research.

Jo presents at EPUK East Midlands Division AGM, Buxton

Jo Barnes gave a presentation on the 2009 LAQM Technical Guidance to the EPUK East Midlands Division AGM at the Tarmac Lime and Cement plant at Tunstead Quarry, in Buxton, Derbyshire last Thursday, 25th June. Malcolm Brown and Rhonda Newsham (British Geological Survey) also gave a very interesting talk on the use of GIS in assessing assessment of contaminated land exposure and Peter Grosvenor and Frank Emerson (Tarmac) spoke about the operations at the quarry and gave us a fascinating tour of the works. The presentations and tour were well-received by the audience of Environmental Protection Officers and Councillors from the region. [Photographed L-R Jo Barnes (UWE), Peter Grosvenor and Frank Emerson (Tarmac), Malcolm Brown and Rhonda Newsham (British Geological Survey.]

And the winner is...

...Rose Bailey from the AQMRC!

Rose was awarded a cash prize for her presentation at the Faculty of Environment and Technology Postgraduate Research Conference last Monday (15th June). Her talk on "Managing carbon emissions at the city scale: opportunities and challenges" outshone all of the other presentations from Bristol Institute of Technology (BIT) and Built and Natural Environment (BNE) postgrad students. Visit Rose's research webpage to read all about her research.

Well done, Rose!

The John Rose Award and Non-Exhaust Emissions - calling all postgrads - applications welcome

Atmospheric particle pollution has been linked to a number of health issues and is thought to be directly responsible for a reduction in the life expectancy of a person living in the UK by an average of 7-8 months. Road transport is a major source of atmospheric particle emissions, particularly within urban areas. Current legislation has only focused on reducing emissions from the exhaust pipe of vehicles. New studies have shown that other unregulated vehicle-related emissions, such as non-exhaust emissions, can equal or surpass exhaust contributions.

The winner of the John Rose Award 2008 from the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES) was Samantha Lawrence, for her PhD research on non-exhaust particles. Samantha Lawrence has used the £1000 grant to publicise her work on non-exhaust emissions and to launch a campaign to encourage the Government to create appropriate legislation to control non-exhaust emissions. As part of this campaign, a Government e-petition has been created. You can add your name to the petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/non-exhaust/.

In collaboration with the IES, Samantha has also created an exciting new website with information on her research, interactive features and learning resources. Please visit www.ies-uk.org.uk/non-exhaust.

The IES hosts the John Rose Award every year to reward outstanding pieces of environmental post-graduate research, which have the potential to motivate people and facilitate environmental improvement. The £1000 grant is used to publicise the results of the work to the general public.

We are pleased to announce that applications for the 2009 John Rose Award are now welcome. The applicant must have completed, or be in the writing-up stages of a postgraduate piece of work that can contribute to positive environmental change. Upon winning the Award, applicants will receive £1000 to promote their research to the public, along with the chance to speak at the prestigous Burntwood Lecture to an audience of scientists and environmental professionals. The Award will be officially presented by Paul Leinster, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency at the 2009 Burntwood Lecture on 11th November at the Royal Society in London.

Please visit http://www.ies-uk.org.uk/awards/awards.php for more information and to apply. The closing date for applications is 2nd October 2009.

Mofoluso's presentation at the AQMRC Seminar Series

Mofoluso recently gave a presentation to the University community as part of the AQMRC Seminar series, describing the current status of his PhD research. The presentation, "Applying remote sensing and GIS techniques to air quality and carbon management in the Niger Delta" gave insight to the methods Mofoluso is adopting for the research and can be accessed from his Research page on the AQMRC website.

Rose to present at International Conference on Human Ecology

Rose has had two abstracts accepted for the International Conference on Human Ecology, to be held at the University of Manchester from 29th June to 3rd July. The conference theme is 'Human Ecology for an urbanising world', and Rose will be presenting a paper entitled 'Managing carbon emissions at the city scale: opportunities and challenges' in the climate change and the urban environment session. Rose will also be presenting an overview of her research in the research paper workshop for PhD students. More information on the conference can be found on the Society for Human Ecology website

UWE and Cranfield NERC funded research on impacts of commercial composting

Read the recent press release on this NERC funded project at http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/article.asp?item=1470&year=2009.

Institute for Sustainability, Health and the Environment Inaugural Conference

More than 100 invited guests drawn from practitioners, researchers and policy makers in public health, local authorities, environment, planning, business and other organisations attended the inaugural conference of the Institute on April 21st . The conference entitled Anticipating Tomorrow for Change Today featured amongst others a presentation from the co-directors of ISHE, Judy Orme and Jim Longhurst outlining the vision, aims, capacity and capability of the Institute .

Read the associated press release here. http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/article.asp?item=1468&year=2009

The presentations from the conference will be available on the ISHE web site (http://www.uwe.ac.uk/ishe/) soon.

AQMRC Work Featured in Research and Knowledge Exchange Conference

The work of the Air Quality Management Resource Centre was presented at the Faculty of Environment and Technology’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Conference held on April 23rd 2009. Click here to see the presentation on AQMRC delivered by Jim Longhurst.

Biomass and Air Quality Guidance Consultation Now Online

The draft biomass and air quality guidance is now available on the Environmental Protection UK website for consultation. The link is:

www.environmental-protection.org.uk/biomass

The consultation period will run until Friday 8th May, responses should be sent to Ed Dearnley via post or email.

Environmental Protection UK
44 Grand Parade
Brighton
BN2 9QA

Email - ed.dearnley@environmental-protection.org.uk

AQMRC at Environmental Protection UK Spring Workshop

The AQMRC team attended the Environmental Protection UK Spring Workshop in beautiful Northamptonshire last week and contributed a couple of presentations and a workshop to the proceedings. Dotun struck a chord amongst the delegates with his presentation on 'Air Quality and the Local Transport Planning Process', while Jo addressed the 'Capacity development and capability enhancement opportunities for air quality and carbon management professionals', introducing the Masters level CPD training course that is currently being developed by the AQMRC, and Tim gave an animated introduction to the LAQM process in his 'LAQM for beginners' workshop (pictured). The presentations are available from the Environmental Protection UK website http://www.environmental-protection.org.uk/events/details/?id=1743.

Tim elected to UKPHA Council

At Tuesday's AGM of the UK Public Health Association, Tim was voted on
to UKPHA Council as a trustee. On the council Tim will represent the
views of the Chairs of the UKPHA's Special Interest Groups.

AQMRC and ISHE well represented at the UKPHA annual forum

AQMRC and the new Institute of Sustainability, Health and Environment
were well represented at the UKPHA public health forum in Brighton this
week. Over half a dozen people represented The University of the West
of England presenting a wide range of work, chairing sessions and
organising workshops.

RSC Interview with Jo

The January edition of the Royal Society of Chemistry Environmental Chemistry Group's biannual Bulletin features an interview with Jo Barnes http://www.rsc.org/images/ecgbull0901_tcm18-142982.pdf. Jo is the Honorary Secretary of the ECG and this interview offers a reflection on her move from Cornwall College to the AQMRC, UWE and on her career so far. For more information on Jo visit her webpage www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/jo.html.

Simon's case study interviews near completion.

Simon has been visiting south west local authorities to investigate the level of cooperative inter-professional engagement between officers dealing with air pollution and officers responsible for carbon management at a local level. This stage of the project will complement the research findings from earlier work (click here for more information) and will further investigate some of the barriers to integrated management highlighted by the questionnaire survey stage of the project.

Jo, Tim and Dotun to speak at Environmental Protection UK Spring Workshop

AQMRC will be represented by three speakers at the forthcoming Environmental Protection UK 2009 Spring workshop taking place on 2nd to 3rd April themed; Beyond the Limits: From Assessment to Action.

Jo will be speaking on "Training for Air Quality Professionals". She will be discussing the HERDA-SW project, which she is currently managing, in which AQMRC are currently developing a series of air quality and carbon management modules for air quality professionals in the South West Region (For more on the HERDA-SW project click here).

Tim will be sharing his vast knowledge on the LAQM process and a review of helpful information and where to get it in a friendly workshop setting to delegates who are new to the process.

Dotun will be speaking on "Air Quality and Local Transport Plan". He will be summarising the key findings from his 3-year research on the subject, and provide recommendations on how to keep air quality at the top of the agenda in the proposed LTP3 and improving engagement between the environmental health officers and transport planners. Find out more about Dotun’s research here.

Dotun concludes case study interviews

Dotun just concluded the case study interviews on the integration of air quality into the Local Transport Plan process at various local authorities in England. This involves visits to West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Greater Nottingham, Bedford, Devon, Leicestershire and Hampshire. He appreciates the support and encouragement he received from all the participants.